Science and the Environment

A team of geologists and paleontologists has agreed on an issue that you might have not realized was still in question: an asteroid, and the fallout from its impact, killed the dinosaurs. Some dinosaur experts were holding out on blaming the asteroid, saying that dinosaurs were already on their way out. The scientists say they're getting a better understanding of the "tempo" of dinosaur extinction.

Forty-five years ago today, in arguably the greatest technological feat of the 20th Century, two Americans stepped off the ladder of their small landing craft and walked on the surface of the moon.

The first of them, Neil Armstrong, 38, of Wapakoneta, Ohio, pronounced his accomplishment "one small step for [a] man; one giant leap for mankind." The second, 39-year-old New Jersey native Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin, Jr., described what he saw as "magnificent desolation."

Do you take pride in your ability to divide your focus and energy into more than one task at a time? Do you think you’re a good multitasker?

Chances are, you’re probably not.

We sat down with two experts – the Two Guys, Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Robert Duke– to take a closer look at the topic of multitasking. Their take offers a perspective into some of the unique issues associated with multitasking.

To help support the Kamine Zoo in Hitachi City, Japan, the Mineko Club of volunteer zoo boosters is holding an auction of three pairs of one-of-a-kind bluejeans designed by lions and tigers and, yes, bears too.

According to an English-language translation on the group's website, "Zoo Jeans are the only jeans on earth designed by dangerous animals."

Every year, more than half of the honeybee hives in the United States are taken to California to pollinate the state's almond crop.

Biologist Laurence Packer says this illustrates both our dependence on honeybees to pollinate many plants people rely on for food and the devastating decline in the domestic honeybee population in recent years.

In the coming years, the federal government wants Texas to reduce its carbon emissions by about 40 percent. With a goal like that, you might expect to see more programs aimed at promoting renewable energy in Texas. But something like the opposite appears to be happening.

Donna Nelson, chair of Texas’ Public Utility Commission, asked last month if wind power generators, not Texas utility customers, should pay for upgrades to transmission lines. The Commission regulates the state’s electric grid, among other things.

When a saw-scaled viper sinks its fangs into a person, it isn't pretty.

Toxins attack the victim's capillaries. The body launches an immune defense, as it would with an infection. But that takes time — too much time. The venom quickly dissolves the tiny blood vessels, and the body runs out of clotting materials before it can repair them.